sam firke dot com

Rare blog, rattlin’ blog

Category: Repair

  • Installing a grommet to fix my belt’s torn hole
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    Installing a grommet to fix my belt’s torn hole

    A few years ago I was given a belt made out of old bike inner tubes (specifically, the Ballard Belt from Alchemy Goods). It worked great! A little stretchy and a nice repurposed object.

    Things fall apart. Eventually the belt hole that fits me got torn out:

    a black belt with white stitching, one of the holes has been stretched and ripped

    I asked around and no one local had a grommet tool to lend me. So I bought my own from Sail Rite (after going down a rabbit hole and looking for vintage setter dies on eBay). With the right tool for the job, it was a ten-minute repair and the belt once again holds my trousers up. The only thing I’d change would be to get a smaller size of grommet. I used #1 size, 5/16″ in, and for a belt I think #0 (1/4″) would be better. Here’s the fix, step by step.

    First I hammered a cutter tool (in the background of this photo) to make a clean hole for the grommet, over where the old hole had failed:

    the black belt on a scrap of wood on a wood workbench, with a clean large hole punched in it

    Then I inserted the top and bottom pieces of a grommet into the setting die and got ready to whack it with a mallet:

    the belt is sandwiched between two pieces of a grommet setter and die

    And voila! The hole was reinforced and usable again:

    the original belt, now with a gleaming grommet installed that is a little too big

    It does look a little distorted, not that I think anyone ever looks closely at my belt. Maybe if I had cut a bigger hole there would be less material to bunch up? I have two sizes of cutter and can’t remember which one I used.

    A smaller grommet might help as well. But regardless, my fix mates with the other part of the buckle perfectly:

    the closed belt, with the long skinny poker thing inserted through the grommet and held against the bar.

    Of course, one of the holes now looks different from the others, but I like that – the belt is now sized precisely for me. This repair technique also offers the opportunity to install a hole at any point, in case the user of the belt wants to wear it a little tighter or looser than the old hole allowed.

    The grommet would grip tightly anywhere, it doesn’t have to go where the old hole went. So you could buy a belt that doesn’t fit at a thrift store, or get a belt from a loved one, and create a strong hole exactly where it will fit you.

    Was it silly that I spent $70 on tools to fix a $40 belt? Well, I wanted to fix the dang belt and didn’t have another option. But (if you know me, you know what’s coming next) now I can lend the tool to people! And it will cost them $0. Maybe we can get more belts fixed.

    Here’s the grommet tool’s listing on Meutch, the peer-to-peer sharing site. Since that link will expire in 30 days, I’ll throw in a screenshot here to illustrate:

    a screenshot of meutch.com showing hole cutters and an inserting die for spur grommets for loan

    If you live in Ann Arbor, feel free to request the grommet setting kit from me on Meutch. Maybe you can repair your belt, or shower curtain, or make something attachable with a carabiner, or …

    I’m looking out for other uses for this tool. For instance, I installed a grommet on the safety clip for my bike carrier, a device I invented to tow bikes around town and that I intend to write up in its own post.

    That’s all. I hope this helps someone who believes their belt has more life in it even after a hole tears out!

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  • Mending Chipped Ceramics with JB Weld Kintsugi
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    Mending Chipped Ceramics with JB Weld Kintsugi

    Kintsugi is a Japanese technique for visibly repairing pottery. It’s aligned with the aesthetic of wabi-sabi (I still don’t fully understand wabi-sabi despite having enjoyed reading this book about it to my kids). Kintsugi is right up my alley and is similar to sashiko, a visible mending style I’ve come to love.

    Traditional Kintsugi is done with ingredients that are hard to work with (urushiol, think poison ivy sap turned into resin) or acquire (gold leaf). And it takes a long time to cure. I looked for a modern equivalent that would provide a shortcut. And I found this comment on Reddit from the appropriately named user Zentactics:

    I’ve done it on a few plates and bowls. If the chip is deep, I’ve used painter’s tape to support the JB weld while it cures. Afterwards, I’ll remove it and sand it down to the shape I want it to be. Depending on the chip, it may be easier to layer it, both methods work. Once the JB weld is built up and cured, I’ll put a super thin layer of JB Weld and dust it with gold Alumidust (Alumilite). A brush can be used if needed. I’ll then gently pat it down with my fingertip to embed it. All of the items I’ve fixed have been in the dishwasher and microwave dozens of times and seem to be holding up well.

    I followed that approach and it worked great! I’ve repaired a few things but my biggest and favorite repair has been on a large, one-of-a-kind handmade ceramic bowl I’d received as a gift. Here’s the story of that repair and what I learned, with pictures.

    The break: with the bowl sitting on the counter, I reached way up on my tippy-toes to get the hot sauce and bang! The hot sauce toppled off the shelf and crashed into the rim of the bowl:

    The fresh chip

    Notes on materials:

    • Some people seem to use the JB Weld SteelStik product but I used the classic two-part epoxy and it worked great.
    • Amazingly, from what I can read, both original two-part JB Weld and mica dust seem to be non-toxic when cured.
    • That said, I have been hesitant to use JB Weld on a part of a coffee cup that gets submerged under hot liquid. But I feel confident repairing chips in handles and rims that hardly ever come in contact with food.
    • For my Michiganders: Alumilite, who manufactures the mica dust I use, is headquartered in Kalamazoo!
    • Warning: mica dust gets everywhere! It’s worse than glitter. I work outside when possible.

    Okay, onto the repair. I don’t typically have the foresight to take photos but this time I did so I’ll mostly let them speak for themselves.

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  • DIY Upholstered Seat Cushion for Yuba Spicy Curry Cargo Bike
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    DIY Upholstered Seat Cushion for Yuba Spicy Curry Cargo Bike

    I got my first Yuba Spicy Curry bike in 2017 and have been riding one ever since. It is the long-tail bike seen in many of the photos of Things I’ve carried on a cargo bike and The biggest thing I’ll ever tote on a bike.

    This year both of my weathered passenger seat cushions split open (Yuba has entirely changed the seat cushions they sell since I bought mine, and I hear the new ones are more durable). So I undertook my first foray into upholstery, refashioning my old and busted Soft Spots into one double-length cushion, a couch of sorts.

    My coworking friends at Workantile have many interesting skills. One of them is a hobbyist upholsterer! With her tools and know-how it only took an hour or two, using materials we already had lying around.

    First I measured and cut a piece of plywood to cover the full tail of the bike. It turned out that the foam from the old seats was still in good shape, so we reused it. We stuffed some foam scraps between the two old blocks of foam:

    the foam cores of the two seat cushions, laid next to each other
    All the foam, resting on the plywood base
    Packed tight and held in place by special spray adhesive
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    Tips for Fixing a Dripping Widespread Sink Faucet

    These are notes from Jan 2023 me to future me – here’s what you need to know:

    • To fix the 2007 Pegasus [is that a Home Depot brand?] widespread two-handled faucet on the upstairs bathroom sink
    • About fixing leaking sink faucets more generally

    Diagnosis. Figure out if the hot or cold is leaking by turning off the water supply lines one at a time.

    The part to change to stop the dripping is the cartridge (in a one-handled faucet) or, in this widespread two-handle bathroom sink, the faucet stem. It comes with a new retaining clip. Cartridge vs. faucet stem is mostly a matter of terminology.

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  • 3D-Printed Piece Saves My Cuisinart Food Processor
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    3D-Printed Piece Saves My Cuisinart Food Processor

    The utopian vision of 3-D printing and communal knowledge sharing came true this week, in one small instance. For years I’ve loved the idea of 3-D printing a replacement component when some plastic bit snaps in a machine I’m using. Especially when the manufacturer doesn’t sell that widget and intends for you to junk and replace the whole thing. But in practice, I’ve not found myself in a situation where that would be viable…

    Until this week. Last year my mother upgraded her food processor and handed me down her previous model, a Cuisinart DFP-14 (DFP-14BCN to be precise). The machine had seen years of hard work and at last, the little plastic interlock piece at the nexus of the complicated safety mechanism broke.

    I spent maybe 90 minutes last weekend trying to fix it. This involved cutting a reinforcement plate out of scrap plastic, epoxying it on, and mounting it with a machine screw (part of the plastic housing had shattered, too). I had tried my best but it was not going to last. Here’s the kludge fix at the point where I called it quits:

    The black plastic layer is my addition. This won’t hold up for long.
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  • DIY non-slip soles for footed pajamas
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    DIY non-slip soles for footed pajamas

    I’ve handed down a few pairs of cozy footed pajamas between my kids. Along the way the soles lost whatever non-skid properties they had and became very slippery. We got them out this fall to keep my two-year-old cozy. He was cozy … and he slid all over on our slick floors, wiping out a few times. Neither slips nor cold bare feet would do. It was time for DIY non-slip soles.

    I outfitted two pairs of Carter’s footie pajamas. Both attempts turned out great:

    Try to slide in those!

    Materials: I used a discarded bike inner tube that could no longer be patched. If you don’t have one, you might be able to score them from a bike shop or repair co-op. I also used heavy-duty Sashiko thread and needle, but I expect you could do this with any needle and thread.

    Process:

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    Sand the bottom of a door that sticks without taking it off its hinges

    Problem: a wood bathroom door rubs slightly on the tile of a bathroom floor at the midpoint in its swing, sticking in place. I wanted to sand off the tiniest bit so that it swings free.  But it wasn’t worth removing the door from its hinges.

    Solution: get some rough sandpaper (I used 60 grit) and an old magazine. Open a dozen pages of the magazine and lay the sandpaper on top, grit up. (Without the magazine padding I’d be nervous that I’d mar the tile floor). Put this stack at a point in the door’s arc where it swings freely.

    Before you start sanding: you want to avoid pulling off any strips from a veneer that may be covering the door’s surface.  To avoid that, first sand the trailing edge of the door (that is, the side that hits last when you’re slamming it into the sandpaper), so it isn’t caught and pulled while you slam.  Also consider using a finer grit of sandpaper, which would add a few minutes to the sanding, and opening-and-closing on the sandpaper with less force.  Keep an eye on the veneer throughout the process.

    Now, slam the door into the paper stack so that it sticks. In the process, it sands exactly the lowest point on the bottom of the door. Keep swinging it back and forth, slamming it into the sandpaper. As you make progress in shaving the door, you may need to add pages to the stack or move it closer to the point where the door sticks.

    Test periodically. In a few minutes you’ve removed a millimeter or two from the bottom of the door and it should swing freely, without altering the look of the door or needing to remove it.

    Besides the convenience of this solution, I enjoy its elegance: by replicating the act of making contact with the floor it shaves the door in precisely the right place.

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  • Mending knee holes with sashiko
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    Mending knee holes with sashiko

    I love repairing things. For several years I’ve hoped to take up sewing to extend my fixing skills to clothing. Sheltering-in-place during COVID-19 has provided opportunities to try my hand at mending ripped knees in my family members’ pants. It feels good to sit in peace and make something whole again. Apparently I’m part of a trend, with mending and in particular visible mending gaining in popularity.

    I asked my friend Cassie where to start in mending holes in knees and she pointed me to the book Mending Life, which had steps that were thorough, clear, and seemed doable – with handy illustrations (pp. 96-103). So I took a shot at it. So far I’m 3 of 3! None are perfect but all three exceeded my expectations. Below are photos.

    Specifically, I have been trying to emulate sashiko, a Japanese decorative reinforcement stitching technique. I sewed the first patch with a piece of thick thread I found in my sewing box. The next two I did with proper sashiko needles and thread I ordered online. (As with most of my things, if you live near me and want to borrow them, just ask).

    I chose contrasting thread and patches to emphasize the repair jobs. I’m proud of my work, it normalizes repair and reuse, and frankly I think the unique & visible mends leave the clothing looking better than it did new.

    Sashiko patch #1: women’s jeans

    The ripped fabric at the knee was exploding outwards. It was begging to be patched with the “exposed edge technique” (Mending Life), with an interesting pattern poking through.

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  • Drilling through a broken zipper slider and adding a paperclip pull
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    Drilling through a broken zipper slider and adding a paperclip pull

    The slider on my zipper – in this case, on a waterproof bag for holding soiled cloth diapers – broke such that the top of the bridge separated from the slider body. I tried to glue it to no avail.

    Two tailors told me they’d need to replace the entire 16″ run of zipper and quoted me $25 and $26. I could get a new bag for that much. So I took a shot at repairing it.

    I drilled through the side of the slider bridge, using a 1/16″ bit. I first used a hammer & nail to make a tiny indentation so the bit wouldn’t walk. If the hole is even a little off-center, it will leave a thin border prone to breaking.

    I drilled that hole. Like usual, I forgot to take a “before” picture. It looked like any zipper.

    Then I stripped a spare piece of 22 AWG wire I had lying around, bending the copper into a loop. Kind of pretty, I think!

    It took just a few minutes and seems to slide well. We’ll see how it holds up.

    UPDATE May 2020: the twisted wire was impractical and failed quickly. It has been replaced by a paperclip, which is working much better. The clip falls off in the washing machine, which might pose a risk to the machine. I now remove it before tossing the bag into the wash and reattach afterward. Overall the bag now works as well as new!

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    Watch repair: metal spring bar tore a channel in a Casio G-Shock end piece

    For Hanukkah 2008, I received a new watch from my wife. (I don’t remember the watch before that). It was particularly magical in my job as a high school teacher. After the first bell of the day rang, it was 4 minutes to the start of school, then 46 minutes per period alternating with a 4-minute passing period.

    The watch had a auto-repeating countdown timer that I set for 50 minutes and would synchronize with the day’s first bell. At any point during the day I could look down and see precisely how many seconds were left in a class or passing period. I could walk the hallways and announce “27 seconds!” or count down “5-4-3-2-1” and then the bell would ring, with me the only person in the school who had that level of precision.

    After years of daily wear and companionship, I received a smartwatch as a gift and stopped wearing the digital watch. I went from the Fitbit to a Basis and then a Garmin. At one point I realized I’d fallen into a consumerism trap and sought to go back. The notifications were disruptive and the data I was generating was useless to me but creepy in the hands of Big Tech. I tried to go back to the Casio, but it had a problem. (Remember the torn-out spring bar in the page title? This post is about the torn-out spring bar).

    Each strap is attached to the end piece / bezel by a spring bar. In the course of replacing a broken band and with wear and tear over time, the spring bar on one strap carved a channel from the hole it sits in. With slight force, the strap would pull the pin out through the channel and detach from the bezel. (If this post wasn’t an afterthought I’d have a “before” picture). This person appears to have the same problem, though they too did not post a picture.

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